Greg Rusedski will begin his warm up for Wimbledon 2004 by playing in The Surbiton Trophy, which takes place at Berrylands from May 29 to June 6.

It will be the British number two's second appearance in the tournament proper and his first in front of a British crowd since being cleared of drugs charges.

Rusedski, who suffered a first round 6-2, 7-6 defeat by local favourite Jurgen Melzer on his ATP return in Austria on Tuesday, entered the $50,000 Challenger last year and was beaten in the quarter-finals by the eventual winner, South African Wesley Moodie.

Tournament director Peter Greatorex said: "We are delighted Greg has chosen to start his build-up to this year's grass-court season at Surbiton.

"We hope Surbiton will help him on the way to success at Wimbledon."

This year's is the strongest ever Surbiton entry, headed by 6ft 10in Croatian Ivo Karlovic, who upset Lleyton Hewitt at last year's Wimbledon Championships.

Moodie has also signed up to defend his title, while former Australian Open winner Thomas Johansson of Sweden and the 2002 Surbiton winner Jeff Morrison (USA) will also play.

Britain's Alex Bogdanovic will be trying to improve on his Surbiton performance last year when he was a beaten semi-finalist.

The 20-year-old from Middlesex said: "This time last year I hadn't won a first-round match in eight tournaments. Now I am mentally and physically much stronger."

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